Not all 1970s Les Pauls are equal: 1974 Les Paul Custom White! (Kalamazoo!)

[@matthewf1979]

Killer Custom!! A lot of great rock that we all love was made on Norlin and CBS guitars. There’s really good guitars to be found from the 70’s and 80’s.

[@robertcalvin2643]

My LP Sunburst 1974 Custom is really heavy but sounds great!

[@woofcity6307]

I have a ‘77 custom and it’s been a killer for me for 30 years. The maple neck and t tops are crisp and articulate and it’s straight as an arrow. I have other les pauls, but to this day that guitar has a mojo only 30 years of playing it in hundreds of gigs can make. I got for $900, which was all the money i had at that time. Just saying don’t rule out Nashvilles just because, you may even get a deal. My natural looks yellow in most lighting. Its cool. I think in 76-77 they made in both. But this guitar is pure mick ronson to me and i’ve never felt under gunned against anybody when i pull it out. Good luck!

[@eguitarplayer6689]

Thanks for the demonstration. I live nearby Kalamazoo. I'm always interested about information from that era.

[@LarryHric-zl9pe]

Hello. Looked at the site description. Looks like caps from 73 that Gibson used. From 1974 onward I’ve read that most of the large mass production builds were moved down to Nashville and the smaller scale specialized builds remained at Kalamazoo. The smaller scale frets were preferred by Les Paul as used in the 50s for fast playability and chord progressions. More jazz oriented playing.

[@davidhaegens]

Nice Steve Jones and RR both can't be wrong

[@bobsebring2819]

Great sounding guitar

[@mikemiller6628]

Fantastic playing.

[@RiggsTaylor]

Thanks Mike!

[@ernestschultz5065]

Norlin guitars are actually pretty great

[@jackramey3456]

How about some clean tones?

[@GothicXlightning]

i prefer my EBONY BLACK MAGIC Gothic Dream One

[@joeyd3324]

Made in USA Sideways..?

[@MayorMcCheese2000]

tasty

[@Nordic_Sky]

My first guitar was a 1974 Les Paul Custom, which was the 20th anniversary. Absolutely terrible guitar. Two-piece body, 3-piece neck, ugly cherry sunburst, horrible quality plating that bubbled almost right away. Nasty sounding bridge pickup. The worst.

[@truevintageguitar]

Hey I hear you! Is it possible that the sound you didn't like was a result of the 300k pots instead of the 500k pots? Gibson went with 300k starting in '73. If this were my guitar, I'd be tempted to drop in a 500k harness to listen for the difference.

[@TheScumAlsoRises]

Beautiful. Congrats on avoiding the constant over-the-top "something-something Randy Rhoads" trope when discussing white LP Customs from the 70s.

[@truevintageguitar]

Much appreciated!

[@Dr.Jekyll]

@@truevintageguitarIn contrast, some of us love the tie to Randy Rhoads, who got the shaft and deserves to be remembered in the same sentence as EVH. All Randy, all the time!